Homestead Garden Tour – May 1, 2012

I wanted to post an update of how things are growing here at the homestead this spring. I’m excited about our gardens this year, and we’ve worked pretty hard at getting the yard in shape after last year’s tree removal. Last weekend, we finished the privacy fence along the driveway. We are really excited about this, since now we’ll be able to explore planting some fruit trees or berry bushes or something permanent along the fence line (we’re not sure what yet). Now we just have a flagstone patio to install (and a pergola)!

We’ve had a lot of spinach so far this spring from plants that self-seeded last year. And we’ve enjoyed bits of Swiss chard here and there from plants that we planted last year, overwintered and have just kept right on going. Perpetual chard!

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I’m very excited that our garlic is growing so well. I think we planted enough for the coming year, plus enough for seed (I’m hoping anyway). And our potatoes that we planted have grown so much that we’ve hilled up three times so far. I’m hoping for a big harvest there as well.

The neighbor has already planted a row of corn, and we put the giant pumpkin seeds in the ground last week (along with a few sunflowers). This week will be our main summer planting. We are excited to get all those seedlings in – tomatoes, basil, peppers, chives, rhubarb, strawberries…

I’ve seen those before on your (and other blogs) and it seems like an awesome idea. I’d love to build one in my yard, but being that I’m already a neighborhood pariah, not having the standard lawn like everyone else, it might be a tough sell. I’ll just have to admire yours!!

My garden is way behind yours, not helped by the Biblical amount of rain we are getting at the moment (England and Wales have just had their wettest April since records began a century ago!). I have a row of peas that have been sitting in water for so long they’ll either end up 7 foot tall all they’ll just rot and keel over.

I got some stuff in, but it’s either been too wet for the rest, or too cold. We had 3 heavy fogs in March which also means we due 3 sharp frosts in May according to the local nature man, and he’s not usually wrong! So my tomato seedlings stay in the greenhouse for now.

I love the garlic in the front garden. That’s my area of wasted space that I’m working on at the moment.

I was also intrigued by your planting of oats and peas in the chicken area. Sorry, you’ve probably explained this already, but what’s the plan for that. Is it chicken food or just green manure? I’ve transplanted some perpetual spinach volunteers into our chicken run under a chicken wire-covered wooden frame. The chickens can peck at the top but can’t scratch the plants up so they regrow. I got the idea from Kate at Living the Frugal Life, and it’s working brilliantly so far. I’ve planted a few more along the outside of the chicken wire fence of their run and it works similarly, but I can also pull off whole leaves for the ducks.

I am SOOO far behind you!! The strawberries are in and doing great (ate the first one of the year yesterday), the onions and garlic are going like gangbusters!! The first asparagus raised their pointy heads last week!! Any day we’ll have lettuce and spinach.

I haven’t planted ANYTHING else. I have three flats under the lights downstairs, but nothing is anywhere near transplanting.